thetyphoonsource

[thetyphoonsource]

@manikax

Promising Young Woman (2020) dir. Emerald Fennell

[thetyphoonsource]

@choxyun

Stella’s Last Weekend (2018) Directed by Polly Draper

[thetyphoonsource]

manikax​:

Taetor tot [11:24 pm] → [gif] Taetor tot [11:24 pm] → but fr either you tell me what you want or i’m gonna guess  Taetor tot [11:24 pm] → i’ll close my eyes  Taetor tot [11:25 pm] → or just leave it at the door

Maja [11:27pm]: I’m trying voice to text so this might be bad I’m sorry period end sentence the message is done please why are you like this message to Maja you’re still typing why how does this work you’re relieved of duty take a break goodbye please just Maja [11:27pm]: I figured it out Maja [11:28pm]: Now I’m curious what you’ll get please not noodles I’ve had so much ramen Maja [11:29pm]: Don’t do that then I wouldn’t see you no that’s not delete that stop don’t

[thetyphoonsource]

manikax​:

Database. This stuck out to Maja with neon noticeability, and it struck her as both ridiculous and faintly ominous. She supposed it made sense that such a thing would exist, but she’d never given it much thought. At least not with any seriousness. 

A few times she’d trolled forums focused on proving the existence of the supernatural. She liked to see the theories people came up with. Her own subreddit had even started to compile evidence regarding her immortality, though it was mostly in jest, the same way people joked about Keanu Reeves’ seeming imperishability. It had all been no more than a big joke to her. A farce. 

The knowledge of there being a legitimate database with information about supernaturals was both alarming and intriguing to Maja. It became less intriguing when he admitted that she wasn’t on it. She rubbed her temples. 

“My body, for sure,” she said. “Maybe everything else, too. I don’t know. Can you make a soul? I always wanted to believe that mine came from the same place that everyone else’s does, but…”

The entity’s cackling cut her off. She recalled what it had said among the funhouse mirrors. It knew something that she did not. It could see something about her that even she couldn’t.

“But,” she pushed on, “I don’t know for certain.” 

Even she couldn’t admit — not aloud, not to herself — of the possibility that her soul was as equally manufactured as her body. But the thought continued to lurk in the shadowy recesses of her mind. What would it change? Admitting this possibility? 

That you wouldn’t be a real girl? The entity mocked her. 

Maja ignored it. “You went to Sunday school?” She tried to imagine little Taewon as a choir boy, an altar server. “Are you still religious?”

There was a twinge in her voice. So his stomach plummeted past his knees, his head hung, pulled by regret like a morose puppet. Another reason he didn’t do the talking at work, he never knew when to shut up once he got going. How else would she react to him asking if she had a soul?

“Hard to avoid service when your dad’s the priest.” Taewon summarized while standing to get himself another cup of coffee. “That’s … a loaded question. I don’t think I am. Well. Hm. A better way to put that is that I don’t know how I could be. Magic looks an awful lot like miracles.”

“I’d ask my dad but I’ve been not so gently prohibited from revealing anything to humans.” He let out a sigh while leaning against her counter. “You’re the first person I’ve been able to talk about any of this with so I’m trying to not go overboard. Especially when you’re dealing with … y’know.” He waved his hand vaguely for no one’s benefit and promptly paused to stare at it when he realized what he was doing.

After getting a refill, he took to tapping against the mug again while his eyes lingered on the couch. He didn’t want to sit there. It felt too big with only him on it, as if the cushions would swallow him when he let his guard down. His feet knew where to take him once his gaze drifted back to the bathroom door and the shadow that peeked out under the crack. Despite his effort to be subtle, his mouth quirked as the door let out an upset noise with his weight resting against it.

“Do you wanna play 20 questions?” His head thudded backward, “Sorry. Dumb idea. I just don’t want you to think I’m interrogating you. Letting you ask feels more fair.” Why was he making it worse? “Fair isn’t the right word. I- I don’t know what I’m trying to say. I’m going to shut up now.”

[thetyphoonsource]

manikax​:

Taetor tot [11:19 pm] → you’re not wrong about that Taetor tot [11:19 pm] → ah yes so nutritious  Taetor tot [11:19 pm] → i’m gonna bring you something with more substance. what do you want

Maja [11:23 pm]: you dont have to do that actually please dont i have a mustache its bad 

[thetyphoonsource]

manikax​:

Taetor tot [11:16 pm] → huh. okay. sounds like a real asshole Taetor tot [11:16 pm] → that’s great and all but ras and guma don’t have opposable thumbs  Taetor tot [11:17 pm] → have you eaten anything??

Maja [11:17 pm]: yeah he sucks big time Maja [11:18 pm]: no but they hve cute noses and i love them Maja [11:18 pm]: vicodin and coffee

[thetyphoonsource]

manikax​:

Taetor tot [11:05 pm] → who is he?? what spell?? Taetor tot [10:05 pm] → and stuck how??? i’m literally so confused and worried for you rn Taetor tot [10:06 pm] → please tell me someone’s there taking care of your ass

Maja [11:13 pm]: got caught by a fire spell when arresting a witch. trafficking. he’s trying to bargain with ending the spell for his release. negotiations have been slow so im stuck with my arm looping between burning and healing. Maja [11:15 pm]: im home. cant work. ras and guma are ehre

[thetyphoonsource]

manikax​:

Taetor tot [10:50 pm] → wtf????  Taetor tot [10:50 pm] → you look like hot garbage (affectionate) Taetor tot [10:50 pm] → why the fuck are you fighting witches??? for work???

Maja [10:55 pm]: [Meme] Maja [10:56 pm]: not what i meant to sned whatever still works Maja [10:57 pm]: typing with the wrong hand Maja [10:57 pm]: 👍 Maja [11:05 pm]: he won’t stop the spell until he gets released so im stuck

[thetyphoonsource]

manikax​:

thetyphoonsource asked: ↕ for a scared/worried text

January 2, 2023

The Things Not Said @thetyphoonsource

Taetor tot [9:19 pm] → hey random question  Taetor tot [9:19 pm] → is everything okay?   Taetor tot [9:20 pm] → you’ve been awol on twitch  Taetor tot [9:20 pm] → which is not like you Taetor tot [9:22 pm] → I miss the hand porn and antagonizing your chat :( Taetor tot [9:23 pm] → but fr i’m kinda worried 

[read @ 9:25pm]

Maja [January 3, 10:45 am]: sorry i fell asleep. painkillers Maja [10:43 am]: [Image: incredibly blurry, borderline cryptid level, selfie showing Tae wearing a sling, the visible parts of his right arm are covered in gauze.] Maja [10:48 am]: tldr don’t fight witches

[thetyphoonsource]

[thetyphoonsource]

manikax​:

As a result of his words, Maja tensed. After all, she was a supernatural being who had committed several crimes, not least murder in cold blood. She’d known Taewon was a cop, but she’d presumed he was not of a rank or status that might jeopardize her way of life. Not in any meaningful way. She hadn’t even bothered to do a background check.

Hohohoho, the entity laughed maniacally, that’s rich. You’re about to get got, missy. No way a cop’s gonna be down for the type of shenanigans you like to get up to with your little vampire girlfriend. 

She bit her lip when she realized that the entity was right. A sudden sourness rose in the back of her throat, and she struggled to swallow it down. 

“Supernatural crimes, huh?” Her voice was strained with the effort it took to keep the entity from regaining control. It wasn’t trying as hard to overtake her, not like it had in the car - or maybe she’d gotten better at holding it off. It was difficult to say. 

Taewon announced that her coffee was outside. She glared at the door as if it were some monstrous enemy she’d have to slay to save a princess. She supposed that in this case, the enemy was not the door. She was both the princess and the beast. 

I have been calling you princess all night, conceded the entity. So I’ll give ya that one. 

Maja stood and steadied herself, planting her feet on the cool tile. She tried to banish from her mind any thoughts of how Taewon might upend her life - in more ways than one. A short moment later, she cracked open the door, just enough that she could reach out a hand and retrieve the mug. As she did, she caught a glance of Taewon on the sofa. He was wearing a blindfold. She softened at the sight of him. There was something so earnest about the gesture, even though it was hardly a serious preventative measure. It would be nothing for her to pull it off his face, to force him to look into her eyes. But that was beyond the point. The blindfold represented something else entirely. It demonstrated his trust. His belief in what she’d said. She returned to the bathroom with the coffee cup, shutting the door behind her. 

She sipped her coffee as she listened to him. Rolling the strong black liquid over her tongue helped to keep her present. “I’m not surprised. I don’t try very hard to mask what I am,” even as the words left her lips she knew how ironic they were. She didn’t even know what she was, not precisely. “I’ve been… around for a long time. At least since the turn of the century, but I suspect that I’m much older than that. I just can’t remember. Don’t ask me why or how because I sincerely don’t know. I don’t know a lot of things about myself, but I’ll tell you what I do: I’m originally from the Philippines. I don’t have a mother or father. I was made, not born. I don’t need to breathe; I don’t need to eat; I don’t need to sleep. But I’ve taught myself how to do all of those things.” Her voice had an unmistakable ring of pride as she said this. “Whatever part is me - whatever makes me Maja - it’s separate from my body. My vessel.” She repeated the word both Taewon and the entity had used. “A little girl I once knew compared me to a doll.” A pause. “I know it sounds idiotic, but at the time I felt there was some truth to that. I still do. But that’s all I’ve got.” 

“It sounds more impressive than it really is,” A bitterness seeped into his voice. The small cracks he struggled to ignore grew and stretched into spiderwebs, touching at something he had always assumed was unshakeable. The past year had done its best to erode as much of himself as it could. Whenever he was forced to stop moving his mind swam with questions he had no hope of parsing, nevermind answering. So he let the unknown turn him into a coward; he hid. Covered the bathroom mirror with a towel, hovered over the light switch before walking by it, buried his head in busy-work and let his eyes glaze over the details. His world became incredibly narrow, barely beyond anything directly in front of him, and anything that tried to press into that space pushed him farther and farther adrift. Denial was one hell of a raft.

Maja’s honesty splashed nearby like a life preserver and he was desperate enough to cling to it. Finally a tangible element of the supernatural that wasn’t found in a corpse. Someone to actually talk to. He chalked the small sense of relief growing in his chest to projection. She had questions without answers too and built herself a comfortable life. Alone. He gulped down more than the last of his coffee.

“Well all you’ve got is quite a lot.” He didn’t try to hide how impressed he was. “I wish I had a different answer but I don’t know what you are either. Your form and abilities don’t match anything recorded in the database. Assuming that they’ve given me the proper access.”

Taewon fell quiet, mind buzzing like a sweltering summer evening as his fingers absently traced patterns on his mug. "When you say that you were made … What part of you are you referring to? The vessel?" Leaving the Maja unsaid, he cleared his throat, "Because what you describe sounds a lot like a soul. Do not be afraid of those that kill the body but cannot kill the soul. I think that's Psalm? Or Matthew. I didn't pay that much attention in Sunday School."

[thetyphoonsource]

manikax​:

His reaction surprised her, even more so when he suggested coffee. The entity was equally perplexed. Maja felt it pause within her. Stunned into silence. It was nothing short of a miracle.

“I guess I’ll have a coffee,” she said. The world seemed to stall on its axis. For a split second, everything was so surreal. Almost otherworldly. She’d read a lot about a human’s fight-or-flight response and how, under extreme duress, time appeared to slow down. This felt very similar. 

Every second Taewon remained in her apartment posed a danger to them both. But she couldn’t deny that his insistence to stay had a profound effect on her heart. Her non-beating heart. If he had been any of the other mortal men or women she’d brought back to her place, he would have surely bolted the moment she began acting ‘crazy.’ Then she’d be forced to do a cyber clean-up job the following day, mitigating whatever nonsense resulted from the social media posts concerning her strange behavior.

The sound of Taewon bumbling around her kitchen was a source of comfort to her. The clack of ceramic mugs, the rush of the tap. At his question, she racked her brain for the onset of the possession. The entity flitted about her insides like a wasp trapped under glass. Tack-tack-tack against the walls of her physical form. It made it difficult to concentrate. She rested her head between her knees, gazing down at the bathroom tiles. 

“This evening, I think,” said Maja. “I got this weird headache when I was waiting for you outside the club. And I don’t get headaches.” 

It was a mystery to Maja why the entity decided that now it was going to be quiet, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t an irritant. It stalked around her like a caged animal, slamming up against her insides and causing a ruckus. It was like it was throwing a temper tantrum. It was a deeply uncomfortable feeling, but it did allow her to properly access her mental faculties. She took advantage of this. 

“For the record,” she said. “This isn’t a usual thing for me. It’s never happened before.” She paused, slowly raising her head. Looking at the closed door, she imagined Taewon on the other side. Fear persisted. But in this fear, she realized something rather obvious: she liked him. She really did. And at that moment, it was a horrendous feeling. She liked him so much, and she didn’t want him to get hurt. What a nuisance.

“You’re taking all of this really well,” Maja went on. “Like supremely well.” She squeezed her eyes shut, keeping the entity at bay. “Why?”

While he waited for the coffee maker to do its magic, Taewon’s attention floated around her apartment landing on her fridge and the collage of pictures. He was sure each of them had a story, be that of where it was taken or who she was with, and he found himself wondering if he’d be lucky enough to hear them. If they went into a photobooth together, would she add them up here? What magnet would she use? Wait. Was that the Kill Bill lady?

A little dazed, he wandered back to swap the mugs and blink down at his rippling reflection. It was a fair question, and one that required a careful answer. The Department demanded secrecy and would exert every power it could to ensure it. But did those rules apply to other non-humans? He’d never had the chance to talk to one outside of work before. Not that he held their rules in the highest regard since his rather forceful recruitment. But he wanted to tell her. His secrets had built themselves into towering walls and for the first time he found himself willing to rip up his hands and make someone an opening.

“I can’t go into too much detail but I guess you could say I’m used to stuff like this.” He grimaced at how pathetically vague he was being. Especially when she was being honest with him. He took a deep breath and adjusted his grip on his mug, “I’m not a normal cop. I investigate supernatural crimes across Seoul.” There was a moment where he expected to be struck by lightning or for some curse to take effect but when that didn’t come his organs were replaced with jelly. Relief came with a terrifying sense of weightlessness. “I-” He cleared his throat, “I haven’t been able to tell anyone that.”

The coffee maker beeped, announcing it was done and letting reality settle back into place. “Your cup’s against the wall by the door,” Taewon explained after placing it down and approaching the sofa. His toe kicked something light under her coffee table but he maintained his priorities and tugged down his blindfold.

“So you experienced an unusual headache after being outside and now there’s something trying to take over your body. It called you a vessel. Is that … How do I ask this? My partner usually does all the talking so I’m not good at this.” He used taking a sip of coffee to buy himself some time to find the words, “I’ve noticed some things since meeting you. I know you’re not human.”

[thetyphoonsource]

manikax​:

Waves roared in Maja’s ears, and she had to concentrate to hear Taewon over the crashing bawl. Seatbelt. Clumsily but obediently, she reached for the strap and plugged the metal tongue into the buckle. Music. “This is good,” she said, sounding many miles away to her own ears. 

Her body was vague and boundless and faraway, her soul descending into a darkness so deep and black that she couldn’t fathom there being a beginning or end to it. Taewon’s voice was a muted melody in the distance. A pinhole light at the end of a long tunnel. She tried to focus on the words he was saying but so much of her energy was exerted in trying to gain purchase in this black void, claw her way up to the forefront of her consciousness. But she was windmilling in a vast empty vacuum. The waves stilled. Silence.

After most of the ride spent with a rigid spine and clenched muscles, Maja relaxed in the passenger seat. She smiled at Taewon and stepped out of the car. Her heels crunched against the well-tread asphalt. “No problem,” said Maja. “You can take it off once we get inside. Follow me.” Maja led the charge through the complex lobby and to a sleek elevator. She pressed the button for the tenth floor. As the elevator soared, she stared at Taewon and removed her gloves one by one. 

Maja plucked her keys out of her teddy bear purse, then she let them into the apartment and saw it for the first time as Taewon would. A small foyer emptied out into a clean kitchen and warmly cluttered living room. A closed door led to a bathroom, an apothecary of lavish lotions and serums she had been sent for free. Another door would take you to her bedroom and her double monitors and army of plushies. Everything was girly and airy and very pink. A metal clothing rack in the living room held the articles that had not fit in her already over-stuffed closet. Camera equipment stacked in a corner. The fridge plastered with a collection of cute magnets holding up photographs, some recent, some from long ago. A computer science degree hung in a frame above a modern bookcase. She let Taewon go ahead of her and locked the door behind them.

“Let’s skin a bear,” Maja declared with wicked mirth, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. She pushed Taewon onto the pink velvet couch, all at once betraying her supernatural vigor, and clambered on top of his gangly frame. Her delicate fingers worked expertly down the line of buttons, undoing them one after the other with no pauses or snags. She had to slip between his parted legs to undo the final button. She pressed against his groin. “I’ve got to be honest,” said Maja, “I’m not really sure what she sees in you. But she likes you a whole lot more than the other guys she’s brought back to her place, and believe you me, buddy, there’s been a lot. You could make a football team out of the men she’s boned.” Maja’s eyes turned up as though she were looking at the ceiling, but the entity was combing her brain for memories. “And woman. Huh. Well, who doesn’t love co-ed sports?” 

She climbed back down Taewon’s body with surprising speed, hovering over him with a jubilant grin. Her long hair waterfalled around his face. “She should’ve told you to get lost when she had the chance.” The entity leaned in close and licked the length of Taewon’s scars with Maja’s wet tongue. And then in a burst, her hands were around his neck. The entity only applied minimal pressure. “This is actually a pretty neat-o vessel, you know. It has tons of fun features. Like, for example, using her voice, I could get you to do whatever I want you to. All I’d have to do is look into your eyes and…”

Maja jerked back suddenly, blinking rapidly. Glitter from her eyelids fell to her cheeks. “No! Stop it!” It was her voice - the same voice she’d been using to speak to him moments before - but she was not talking to Taewon. She scrambled off the couch, stumbling like she was drunk to the bathroom, where she shut and locked the door behind her. “I know this doesn’t make sense,” she said, this time speaking to Taewon. She rose the volume of her voice in order to be heard from the other side of the door. “And I can’t really explain it to you, but there’s something… I think there’s this thing…” She slid to the floor, back up against the wall. She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m really fucked up right now and I don’t want you to get hurt. I’m sorry.”

Excuse me, princess, but me and your dweeb boyfriend were in the middle of something. 

“Fuck off,” she cursed under her breath. 

She knew she couldn’t let this creature use her supernatural command on Taewon. There was no telling what it would make him do. “Please,” Maja pled, “You can’t be here. It’s not safe. And whatever you do, don’t look me in the eyes.” She pulled at her hair. “I know it sounds crazy but if this thing tells you to do something and we’re making eye contact…” She gave up. What was the use? Instead, she focused all her efforts on preventing the entity from regaining control.

The stagnant air in the elevator became increasingly hard to ignore as some nebulous force shifted around him, seemingly electrified by how intense Maja was staring at him. His eyes slid away as the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He trailed behind her, chiding himself for fleeting suspicions, dismissing the unsettling itch below his skin as worry.

He had barely enough time to toe off his shoes and take a step before his back hit the couch. Sputtering protests died on his lips, his hands slapped away whenever he tried to grab her wrists and halt their progress down his chest. Panic was a slow release capsule foaming at his sternum, squeezed and trapped by whiplash. She had been so different, rattled, in the car. The sight of her between his legs had him tense everything in his body. A hoarse syllable of her name whispered out, his brain struggling to catch up and grasp at the stray fragments of her sentences.

Did she just lick him?

The word vessel clicked into focus the nightmarish kaleidoscope the night had become. The force of the realization almost rivaling the bone-chilling silence of his instincts barely stirring at the pressure against his throat. He didn't have time to question himself. He was dealing with the girl he had a giant crush on being possessed on top of him. His grip on her wrists immediately loosened as she jerked away, the air of predation dissipating with her fluttering lashes. Maja his mind sighed in short-lived relief, watching her use whatever window of control she had to lock herself away.

Hunched on the sofa, he listened to her piecemeal explanation, shuffling around the information he was working with to try and catalog what he knew and how to handle it. He was quiet for a long time, but it would do either of them any good to rush into this. Taking a deep breath, he moved from the couch to kneel in front of the bathroom door.

"I'm not leaving. I don't know how to help but I want to. You don't have to deal with this alone. I doubt it would let you have a quiet night even if I did leave." His head made a soft thud as he rested against the door. "But I think I understand what's going on. Something is trying to possess you, which is dangerous because you have a power to control people that requires eye contact. I'm a little lost on what it wants but I don't know how much that matters."

Stifling a yawn, he rubbed at the base of this throat, lingering for a moment. "I have questions but I need a coffee first. Do you want anything?"

As he stood, he looked over at the sofa, wondering if it was worth using it as a barricade. Then he remembered how easily she manhandled him earlier. And licked him. He promptly wiped his face with the bottom of his shirt.

There was some shuffling through drawers until he found scissors and was able to make himself a blindfold from the pant cuff of his kigurumi. Any small sound from the bathroom door would hopefully be enough warning for him to tug it down from his forehead. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing.

"When did you first notice it?" He called over his shoulder while searching cupboards and picking up on the logic in her layout. Feeling far too satisfied that he correctly guessed where she kept her mugs, he let out a throaty noise in surprise when he finally found her coffee. Of course she had the good stuff. Then again everything was the good stuff compared to his bulk tin of instant coffee.

[thetyphoonsource]

@manikax

(✿◠‿◠)

[thetyphoonsource]

manikax​:

Maja had expected Taewon to follow her because that was the kind of guy he was. She also suspected that he’d blame himself for her peculiar behavior, but the impact of his words felt like a slap to the face, like someone had gone and snapped her unbeating heart in two. Since Alekos’ death, sincerity had been her enemy. There was no place in her life for men outside of those she slept with and then discarded, those who donated to her on Twitch and worshiped her face and body. It was easy to play them, to fuck them, to leave them. She’d never once considered what would happen if she began to feel something genuine because it had yet to happen, and she was inclined to think it never would. She had been wrong. 

Oh, Jesus Christ, the voice in her head said, you actually like this guy? I thought this was all some kind of joke. 

The grip she had on her arm tightened, nails digging into the skin even though she was wearing gloves. She gazed up at Taewon with big eyes, and she was afraid to open her mouth, lest the entity took control of her tongue again. Her first impulse was to wrap her arms around him like she’d done in the haunted house, but it seemed pathetic. He barely knew her. He thought he had frightened her. He wanted to keep her safe. 

And how is he going to do that?

She knew she had to say something, that she very well couldn’t go on staring up at his face indefinitely. “You didn’t scare me,” she chanced, and it was her own words that sliced through the smokey air. “I’m just… I’m not really feeling like myself. I guess. Sorry. I’m being a freak.”

She inhaled deeply, even though she did not require the air. It was a performance, but it calmed her. A brief second passed where she expected the entity to make some sarcastic quip. It was silent. 

“I should go home,” she said, “But I don’t–” Want to be alone. But she was not alone, was she? She swallowed hard. The entity remained quiet. if it wasn’t such an immediate relief she might’ve been suspicious. “Maybe we could just have a drink at my place or something? Get out of here.” Under normal circumstances, this would be a line. The drinks a ruse to get him into her bed, to see what was underneath that Kigurumi, to feel those big hands trace the contours of her body. But her body– 

Her body was buzzing. If she wasn’t so deeply aware of her own anatomy, she might’ve thought she’d unknowingly ingested something. She was beginning to feel utterly drugged, and with that sense of being drugged came terrorizing dissociation. Her limbs were tingling, falling asleep. She clumsily grabbed his hand and laced their fingers. She nodded as if to say, take me home. Take us home. 

She let herself be led by him, and as they exited the club she studied the side of his face. It was the side with the scar and instead of wondering how he got it, she simply admired it as a fact of his existence, cataloged the way it looked like she was examining a piece of art in a museum. They stopped on a crowded sidewalk, waiting to cross the street. Under the streetlamp, she noticed that the scarred lacerations were comprised of a multitude of deep colors and that within those two bigger gashes, there were these raised mauve rivets, thin like mouse whiskers. 

When they made it to his car and she’d settled in the passenger seat, her tingling hands made quick work of pulling up her address on her phone. The GPS elicited directions in robotic Korean. He hadn’t even put the key in the ignition yet, but the pins and needles were intensifying and she feared she soon would lose the ability to command her hands. The entity, in its conniving silence, was up to something. Fear blossomed in her chest like a hideous flower. 

In a desperate, intimate gesture, she leaned over the center console and caressed his cheek with her cloddish fingers, and spoke with care, “You’re really sweet, you know that?” She pulled her hand away, not trusting herself - or rather, not trusting the thing inside her - to allow it to remain there any longer. She took another breath she didn’t need.

The courage needed to lift his gaze came as she spoke, concern pinched his features before they smoothed with understanding. Not feeling like yourself was an all too familiar sensation. His hands twitched in his pocket, ultimately escaping to hover at his sides at that tiny pause in her thoughts. The urge to draw her closer itched the tips of his fingers, but it came from a selfish place, too much like capitalizing on her uncertainty, and so it was tamped down.

His face remained tentative despite a rollercoaster rocketing his heart all over his body, crashing when she talked about going home and rising when she offered a drink. "I could use a coffee," he mumbled, a feeble attempt to show he was listening despite the fact that he didn't know what to say. Was there anything he could say? The small shock of cold as her fingers found his hand stopped him from spelunking into a pit of speculation. Right. She wanted to go home. Braving a small smile, he gave her hand a light squeeze and returned the nod.

As they walked to his car, Taewon's eyes drifted up, one corner of his mouth dropping at the sight of the moon. The longer he stared the higher his unease crept up his spine. While he was grateful that he wasn't transforming at the moment, that didn't change the facts: she had come early, and he should be shredding through his kigurumi. Taking a deep breath, his nose guided him to lock gazes with another wolf at the crosswalk and exchange hesitant glances. So it wasn't just him. That didn't make him feel much better.

It was only when he was staring at the door handle that he realized he needed to fish his keys out of his pocket. Not the kigurumi pocket but from his jeans. An awkward, mostly flailing, dance maneuver later had him grasping his keys with a misplaced sense of victory. Clicking himself into the driver's seat, he sent a quick text to his neighbour asking her to check on Ras and Guma. Then he scrolled through his playlists and panicked that he was taking too long and thinking too much so his thumb mashing onto anything decided that they were listening to Luli Lee. “You can-” He swallowed the rest of the sentence down. She was touching him again and so that meant his brain turned off.

“I’m not,” Taewon shrugged, placing his phone in the cupholder before turning to face her, “Making sure you feel safe is the bare minimum.” Implications hung heavy in the air and he let it show, brows pinched as he chewed at the inside of his lip. “You deserve to be a priority.” He concluded only to get immediately distracted by reminding her, “seatbelt.”

Pulling off the curb, he mentally kicked himself, praying she found abiding by traffic laws cool. At a red light after a few blocks he finally remembered what he was going to say. “You can change the music, if you want. I just put on something random.” He offered, partially as a ploy to save face in case habit had him humming (or worse singing) along. His tapping to the beat on the center console was enough. Although he had a separate, ulterior, motive for keeping a hand nearby since she seemed more comfortable when they were holding hands.

Maybe this moon was affecting him more than he thought as he found himself making a valiant effort at small talk. Commenting on a passing fried chicken place, or musing out loud if that one retro electronics shop had shut down or not. Anything to fill the space as silence felt all too easy to slip into. Thankfully the journey ended before he was forced to dig too deep into his repertoire. That always came with the risk that he would end up talking about work and what specific crime brought him behind that dumpster and ruin family dinner. Again.

After parking in a designated guest stall, he did his key dance once more and tucked them away while hip checking the door closed. “I hope you’re not too attached to the bear look,” he huffed, flapping his hand in his sleeve until it was finally free. “I need to skin myself before I melt.”

[thetyphoonsource]

manikax​:

Maja laughed in spite of herself, in spite of the vicious entity in her head, who, in response to Taewon’s joke, made a sound similar to a scoff but was more akin to the sizzle of butter on a hot pan. She nodded at Taewon’s suggestion to leave - there was nothing she wanted more. She didn’t trust herself to speak without giving away her secret - her apparent possession. She hadn’t decided what she was going to do about this little intrusion, and she was concerned that any outward signs of ‘crazy’ might elicit feelings of revulsion in Taewon. Surprisingly, amidst all, she was concerned that he might resent her. It was a truly terrifying feeling for the doll - more terrifying than all the cheap scares in the haunted house. She was not used to caring what others thought of her. 

Even as they made their way out of the haunted house, her grip on Taewon never loosened. “Let’s go to the club,” she said, somewhat louder than intended. She reasoned that if she could just get somewhere with mind-numbingly loud music, the entity might be drowned out. Perhaps she wouldn’t hear its admonitions.

Not a bad idea, the voice teased. Let’s see if it works. 

The haunted house’s final room was filled with creepy dolls, spider cracks in their delicate white porcelain. Their glossy black eyes glared at them. Maja glared back. They were expelled into a small antechamber. A man wearing a clown mask silently pointed them to the club, and they were immediately swept up in its thunderous atmosphere.

Costumed bodies swayed and writhed to the beat of the music. For the first time in her entire existence, Maja wanted to get lost among them, become just another painted face in the crowd. She led Taewon to the middle of the throng, near the DJ, who was playing some obnoxiously unrhythmic EDM track. Maja’s brow furrowed. 

Hm. Still here, still broadcasting loud and clear, the voice remarked. 

Maja parted with Taewon only so much that she could lean over the booth. “Dude, can you play a song with a fucking beat?” The DJ cued up ARTBAT’S Tibet. The bass pulsed like a heartbeat, stealthy and sharp. She returned to Taewon and had to stop herself from burying her head in his chest and squeezing her eyes shut. Instead, she gazed up at his face. The flashing lights sketched neon mandalas on his skin. The robotic vocals hummed out the song’s namesake in a throbbing alto, sounding almost primal, like the ancient guttural hums of shamans on their way to a sacrifice. 

She reached up and touched Taewon’s smooth cheek. How precious, said the voice; why don’t you just tell him you want to suck his cock already and get it over with? We both know that’s how this always ends for you. Maja gritted her molars. Alright, then. I can do it for us. 

Her tongue seized up as if caught in an invisible bind. Panic rose in her eyes. “I want you,” the words tumbled out of her mouth, were in her saccharine voice, but she was not in charge of what she was saying. “I want to su-,” With great strain, she managed to reclaim control, clamping her lips shut. 

You bitch, rasped the voice in her head. 

“I’m sorry,” the words (these were her own) came out in a jumbled rush. She was afraid the being would possess her tongue again, take away her ability to apologize. “I’m so sorry. I… I need some fresh air.” She pushed through the crowd, swimming past sweaty bodies until she was spat out onto a patio where smokers huddled together like penguins. She gasped for breath. The night air caressed her face like a damp hand. A strange burning sensation had begun to spread through her muscles, and she gripped at her own arm with frightened desperation. 

And we’ve only just begun, the voice said in mocking sing-song. 

"Dancing shoes time," Taewon absently mumbled, already attempting to prepare himself for the impending crowd. The cacophony of sights and sounds would be one thing, but combined with his need to notice everything led to an overload. There wasn't enough RAM in his squishy brain to handle it all. Thankfully Maja had already learned the best way to get him to do anything, literally drag him, so he wasn't able to skulk in the periphery like normal. His eyes darted around the mass of faces, trying his best to take shallow breaths to avoid clogging his throat with the pungent cocktail of sweat and perfume. A whine built in his mouth like a sneeze but he swallowed the urge down, expression scrunching briefly.

Her fingers against his cheek caught his focus, the world melting away as she became a beacon among turbulence. Leaning into her touch, the steel cables of tension wound around his body shifted by a fraction although he could never truly let them go. To relax felt far too close to giving up, to risk something slipping through his desperately tight grip. His hands floated to her waist, a tether, while he remained rooted in place. Any idea of dancing and making a fool of himself disappeared to watch transfixed as the lights painted her in hypnotic rainbow waves. He couldn't pick a favourite hue.

I want you.

Every hair on the back of his neck stood stock straight, the look in her eyes reached in deep and seized his spine. Immediately his hands retreated from her sides, missing the feel of her against his palms but the contradiction of her words and expression stuck in his mind, barbed and tearing as he tried to piece together what had her so scared. He chalked up the earlier panic to the fact they got separated but that reasoning didn’t slide into place so easily now. Which left him as the consistent factor.

By the time he wrestled down the implications of that conclusion, he watched as Maja slipped between bodies and vanished. His hands that were now hovering mid air squeezed at nothing before he barreled through the crowd, muttering half apologizes to anyone he jostled, letting the glares bounce off him. Practically tumbling outside, it took him a few skidding steps to get his balance back with his head on a swivel until spotting her on the other side of the patio. For the first time since meeting her he was struck with how small she was.

The smoke in the air stung at his eyes and throat, but he pushed through it and approached her, one hand outstretched above her shoulder until he thought better and shoved both of them into the center pocket of his costume. “Maja?” He croaked and took a moment to breathe, “You don’t have to apologize for anything. I do, clearly. And I’m sorry. Please tell me what I did to scare you and I’ll make sure to never do it again.”

Finally moving to stand in front of her, he couldn’t bring himself to look up and honed in on her shoes, the metallic balloons and smiling bear weirdly cheering him on so he continued talking, “I’m not expecting anything from you, ok? I never did. Honestly I’m just happy you didn’t stand me up and I got to see you tonight. Spending some time with you is all I wanted. Still want, but that’s totally up to you. We don’t have to stay here, my car’s nearby if you want to go somewhere else? Or if you just want to go home, that’s fine too. I can call you a cab if that’s better? I just want you to feel safe so just let me know what you need, I’ll make it happen.”

[thetyphoonsource]

titans (2018–)